


Jhoro Akechi: A Very Ambitious Crossover

by TentaChicken



Series: Bloodmoon Jhin's Tale [9]
Category: League of Legends, Persona 5
Genre: Crossover, M/M, Post Royal Spoilers btw, and a very ambitious one at that lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:54:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26098942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TentaChicken/pseuds/TentaChicken
Summary: Two serial killers who are given chances at redemption through a complicated story of dimensional travel, gods, and bad dads. Will these two fuckfaces take the chance at happiness? Maybe. Who knows.[This fic is a crossover between Persona 5 Royal and League of Legends, mostly focusing on Goro Akechi and Khada Jhin (Specifically Blood moon Jhin). Other characters will stumble into the story, and there may be mature content ahead. Read the tags as I'll update them with every chapter and such.]
Relationships: Jhoro Akechi, Yeah. - Relationship, i have a lot of ideas for the ships inbound but not yet
Series: Bloodmoon Jhin's Tale [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/790227
Comments: 5
Kudos: 7





	1. The Crossover

It was a rainy day like every other, but the scent of the petrichor was tinged with something Jhin couldn’t quite put his finger on. Usually, the rainfall pitter pattering on the shack’s roof would be a comforting tune as Jhin planned his next performance that would never come to fruition. These days, his ideas and passions seemed meaningless, almost like a remnant of the past life he lived, before he grew tired of it all.

His art, it felt all boring now. There was a limit to how much enjoyment Jhin found from his murders. Even that bothersome angel version of himself had stopped visiting his decrepit old shed. Kayn had come to terms with the degradation of their relationship, and had stopped visiting him as well. Jhin hated to admit it… but the loneliness was starting to affect him greatly. 

Wearing his mask every minute of every hour, it was so constricting. His past self would have found it invigorating, pushing him further in his performances. Now, it all felt alien to him. Jhin pulled his mask off and stared at it. He gently stroked the magenta horns with his fingers, smiling at the design. Despite everything that had happened, he couldn’t bring himself to hate the design of his persona, and what it meant to him.

The turbulence of Jhin’s ink had calmed down in the recent weeks. He hoped he had managed to maintain stronger control over it, but he wasn’t sure. Jhin set down his mask and was about to change into a different outfit when he heard a large thunderous crack outside.

“Ah… it’s storming quite loud today,” Jhin mumbled to himself. It had become a habit of his with how devoid of outside contact his life had become. “Hope there isn’t another forest fire-”

There was a sound other than thunder outside now. Even with the harsh downpour of rain, Jhin could hear sloshing, the sound of slipping footsteps in the horrible weather. The sound grew louder and louder until… with a loud thump, whatever was outside had collided with his shack’s door.

Jhin grabbed his mask quickly and approached the door. “Who’s there?” He asked, pulling open the door, and as he did, Jhin saw a soaked person collapse inside. Jhin blinked, and nudged him gently with a foot, but the person didn’t respond. Deciding that he would ask questions later, Jhin carried the wet man inside and closed the door again. There was too much rain leaking inside already.

The stranger’s clothes were soaked, but Jhin decided he wasn’t going to touch them for now. He gathered some dry towels and found an old mattress he wasn’t using from the junk pile. After some quick preparations, Jhin gently laid the stranger’s body on the towels on the mattress, and he used one of the larger towels to try and dry as much of the water and mud off of his clothes. 

From Jhin’s limited knowledge of the modern world, the clothes seemed to be education uniforms of some kind. The stranger seemed to be a young man as well, although Jhin couldn’t exactly pinpoint his age. Definitely too young to be wandering this far from whatever modern city the stranger came from… 

_ Could he be from a different… dimension? _ Jhin asked himself.  _ He doesn’t seem like he’s from Runeterra, let alone Ionia… Why am I constantly trailed by such cross dimensional shenanigans? _ He was rather cross. He thought the random travels to different realms were a thing of the past, now that Jhin had a stronger control over his ink.

The soaked stranger seemed to stir and Jhin redirected his attention back to his guest. He was mumbling and shifting slightly. Jhin presumed he was still sleeping and decided to continue tidying up his shack while keeping an eye on him. It was a good excuse to clean the old place up.

There was an awful scraping noise. Akechi opened his eyes and sat up immediately. He was lying on some horrible old mattress and was covered in a worn cloth, which looked like it could have been an old curtain. He glanced around and was taken aback at his surroundings. He didn’t recall ever entering this old shack…

“Oh, you’re awake.” Akechi turned to the direction of the voice. A tall man wearing a demonic looking mask stared at him with an armful miscellaneous junk. A mask..? Was he in the Metaverse? “I was cleaning up a bit, sorry to wake you up.”

“Excuse me, but where am I?” Akechi asked, trying to hide the panic he felt in his mind. He watched the masked man set down his junk and nudge it under the table. Ah, that was constituted as “cleaning up” to him…

“You’re in my shed,” the masked man answered. “Yesterday I found you passed out at my door, so I took you in for the night.”

The masked man ‘cleaned’ a few more pieces of junk from a concerningly large pile of trash before sitting in a chair next to the mattress. “Sorry this place isn’t in the best shape. There’s some dangerous people out there in the woods, so I figured some shelter was better than none.”

That barely answered any questions. Akechi tried again, “Who are you?”

“Ah, I haven’t introduced myself. My name is… Jhin.” Akechi noticed the slight hesitation in his voice as he said it.

“My name is Goro Akechi,” Akechi responded. Noticing no reaction from Jhin was peculiar. “Uhm, have you heard of me?”

Jhin shook his head. “Sorry. No clue who you are. You  _ sound _ familiar though...”

That was odd. “You mean… you don't know who I am?” Jhin shook his head again, and he seemed confused when Akechi smiled. He continued, “Then I must truly be far from home. It might sound strange, but I’m relieved. Back there, it was difficult to get even a bit of peace and quiet since everyone knew who I was…”

“Ah, a celebrity huh? Heh. It’s funny… I’m sort of like that around these parts too. It’s actually why I live in a rundown shed in the middle of this forest. It provides me with much needed peace and quiet from the hustle and bustle of living in a town.” Akechi could tell Jhin was smiling beneath his mask. “Anyways… what makes you so popular?”

“Well, I’m a high school detective. I’m sort of a sensation after solving some cases and trying to crack the case on the infamous Phantom Thieves, but…” he trailed off, unsure of what else to say. What happened to him after Maruki’s Palace? He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there were gaps in his memory again, just like when Maruki tampered with reality… was he in another one of the doctor’s deluded attempts at making a perfect world?

Jhin seemed to have noticed his confusion and picked up the conversation from there. “I see. I’m not sure of what you mean by ‘Phantom Thieves’, but I’m an artist. I compose performances and what not, and freelance as well.” He paused briefly to let out a long sigh. “But… I’ve been slacking recently and spending more time in this shed. It’s become somewhat of a prison for me, haha.”

A prison… Is that what this place was? Could it be that he somehow stumbled into this stranger’s palace without knowing it? Akechi wasn’t sure what to think, but he couldn’t exactly investigate now. “Well, thank you for providing me with shelter from the rain. Sorry to leave suddenly, but I best be going back now.” 

“Ah right. Yes.” Jhin watched Akechi stand up and make his way to the door. He opened it and stepped out.

Outside was a very misty looking forest. Akechi didn’t recognize this place at all, but he figured since he was still in his normal clothes, this must not be the Metaverse… probably. He pulled out his phone from his pocket and saw he had no service.  _ Shit _ , that wasn’t good.

“Uhm, you mentioned there was a town near here?” Akechi asked Jhin, who followed him out and was now peering at his phone curiously. “I’m afraid my phone doesn’t have any service here, and was wondering if I could perhaps find a working phone somewhere around here.”

“...Phone?” Jhin blinked. “I’ve heard of those things… maybe someone in town could help you. I can give you directions.”

“Thank you.” Akechi replied. He was starting to worry, but he was convinced he would find a way home somehow. After Jhin told him the way to the nearest town, he bid farewell to the peculiar man and went on his way. 

Despite the sudden strangeness of his surroundings, Akechi was determined to find answers. 


	2. The Inky Palace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goro Akechi is lost, so he tries to ask for directions. Somehow, he ends up in a Palace instead.

Akechi was completely lost.

The village provided him with no answers, with every person he asked giving him an odd look and speaking in a language he didn’t understand. How come he could understand Jhin without any difficulty? Something was very wrong here… The buildings seemed more rustic, looking more like the old temples people would visit on New Years than modern era housing. Was he stuck in some strange past memory? Was he still in Mementos without knowing it?

Defeated, Akechi decided the best course of action would be to return to Jhin and find out what was going on. The trek back into the woods was difficult, as he had gone into the valley to find the village. After retracing his footsteps, Akechi found himself in front of the shack again, looking much more decrepit upon second glance.

After knocking and receiving no answer, Akechi entered the hut to find it unoccupied. Drat, where did that elusive masked man disappear to? Sighing, he sat down on the musty mattress and pulled out his phone to check for service, but no luck. However… he noticed the all too familiar Metaverse app icon on his phone. When did it reinstall itself without him noticing?

Akechi pressed on the app, and he stared at the empty boxes waiting to be filled with keywords. Name, Location, Distortion…

“Jhin, Old Shack…” Akechi hesitated when it came to the last keyword. “...Prison?”

It wasn’t a hit. He cursed as he closed the app again. He didn’t know enough about him to reliably gain access to his palace, and that was assuming Jhin even had a palace. Perhaps Jhin wasn’t too honest with the information he had given him. Akechi understood why. There was no reason to trust a stranger with so much information, and especially the truth. Maybe he’d just wait here until Jhin came back.

Akechi didn’t remember when he fell asleep but when he woke he realised he was on the floor, and the room had changed. There were red and black stains splattered all over the walls, and a mysterious puddle oozing on the floor. He cautiously approached the substance, and it reacted to his touch, with ripples of a iridescent hue almost like an oil spill. This wasn’t just blood. Akechi saw that the stains on the walls weren’t random, but rather streaks that were made with a brush, with an odd substance like… 

“Ink?” Akechi said, staring at the liquid with confusion. The phone buzzed in his hand, and a small notification had popped up: “Match Found”

“What?” He was taken aback. Akechi glanced around as the walls around him melted away as the MetaNav did it’s thing and took him to Jhin’s Palace…

The transition was rough. Akechi was completely disoriented as he stood up slowly, looking around in his surroundings. The ground was completely covered with that ink substance, with dark buildings in the distance. The sky was impossible to see, and made Akechi feel rather claustrophobic as if the ‘walls’ of this place were closing in on him… He could hear a wind blowing as he walked, and ominous whispers all around him. What kind of palace was this..? Akechi glanced down at himself, and saw he had taken on his normal Crow outfit, with the red mask and white uniform. Okay, definitely in the Metaverse now.

There were trees that dotted along the path to the buildings, it’s branches and leaves rendered in a painterly way. This dark artistry reminded him of Yusuke Kitagawa, another artist. Akechi didn’t know the most about him, but he knew of his efforts to recreate the visage found in Mementos, and the dark red and black swirls reminded him greatly of Kitagawa’s piece called “Desire”. How odd two artists shared such strange aesthetic inspirations.

Finally, Akechi made it to the closest building. This one had a grand silhouette, carrying an almost threatening aura. The curved roof with wood and tile construction told him it was definitely an older building, which made a lot of sense considering Jhin’s surroundings in the real world. The doors were open, and Akechi invited himself inside. 

The exterior didn’t prepare him for what he would find inside. Akechi smelled the comforting scent of freshly brewed tea in the air, and as he looked around, the interior was much more modern than everything he had seen before. It reminded him greatly of Le Blanc, and the warm and jazzy kind of atmosphere it had. He saw some figures sitting at tables, who were conversing in soft idle chatter. There was some gentle orchestral background music playing from a gramophone sitting in the back of the room. He turned his attention to the young man behind the bar counter, who was wearing a red apron and a sad smile. His hair was tied up with a piece of blue string, and he was looking directly at Akechi. “Welcome to The Ink Cafe, newcomer. You seem quite lost.”

“Uh, yes. I am.” Akechi was again, startled with how warmly he was greeted. This was all very strange. The young man chuckled and beckoned him closer. Against his instincts, Akechi took a few steps closer, and the man showed him a small menu of drinks.

“Help yourself to a drink, and make yourself at home here. I can try to help you as much as I can, as I am sure you must be very confused why you are here…”

Akechi nodded slowly before looking down at the menu. Several teas, juices, and types of coffee. “I’ll have a cup of coffee, thank you.” He sat himself on a stool close to the bar, and watched the man prepare him the drink. Soon, a cup of warm coffee found its way in front of him.

“Here you go. The house blend.” The man watched Akechi take a slow sip, and smiled with his eyes when Akechi made a soft noise of approval. “Now, what is the last thing you remember?”

Akechi blinked. “Well… I was in the shack, looking for Jhin. He wasn’t there so I waited until he came back… but fell asleep,” he admitted sheepishly. He took another sip of the coffee before continuing, “When I woke, the room had become stained with blood and… ink.” He wondered if he should mention his MetaNav, but decided to leave it at that for now.

The man nodded, the sad twinkle in his eyes never fading. “Ah… I see. It’s not an unusual tale I hear from the people who come by here. How do I put this gently…?” He seemed to hesitate before sighing softly. “You have departed that world now. You walk among us now.”

“Excuse me?” Akechi was confused. The man made it seem as if he just died… That wasn’t true… right?

“You have been taken into the Ink. Whether you are dead or alive, it does not matter. If He wants to keep you here, you can’t leave. I’m deeply sorry, but you are now like us.” There was a faint glimmer, and the man’s body seemed to ripple with the same iridescent flicker the ink had… Akechi quickly glanced at the other people, who shared that same quality, like they were a part of the ink.

“Am I truly? Sorry, I should have mentioned… I entered this place with the help of an app on my phone.” Akechi pulled his phone from his pocket (which thankfully was still there) and showed it to the man. The man stared at his phone and squinted at it, genuinely confused. 

“I’m… sorry, I don’t know what this is. Did Jhin not take you here himself?”

Akechi shook his head, too confused to consider giving any context. “No, I don’t think so. I thought this was a palace so I entered it, in search of answers.” 

The man seemed deep in thought, and glanced around the room. He then gestured for Akechi to follow him behind the counter to a back room, and Akechi did. Once inside, the man closed the door behind him and Akechi realised this was a large barn of some sort, with a pen of chickens. Normal looking chickens, with white feathers, clucking as they pecked at their feeders. “Sorry, I didn’t want the other souls to be disturbed by what we will speak of,” the man started, taking a small sack of grain from the shelf and spreading it to the chickens, who happily clucked and flocked over to snack on the treat. “I do believe you aren’t like us after all. If you have somehow ended up here without Jhin knowing… I wonder what power you hold?”

“Who are you?” Akechi asked, curious how complex this palace was. A cognition speaking in a way that felt independent of its creator? This was definitely not normal, to him at least.

“Ah, I should have introduced myself sooner. My name is Kano, overseer of the cafe and I have the task of introducing the new souls to this plane. It is quite distressing to realise one has died, so I welcome them into the cafe and soothe their souls as much as I can. What is your name?”

“Goro Akechi.”

“Ah, nice to have met you, Goro Akechi.” Kano finished feeding the chickens and set the grain sack back in its place, sighing. “It wasn’t always like this. This entire world used to be a void where all of the fallen would coagulate in one hive mind within the ink. But… Jhin has improved considerably from what he was, and has sought to structure this realm better to atone for his past sins.”

Akechi listened intently, but unsure of what these words really meant. “Ah, I’m sorry. I’m sure this doesn’t mean much to you, does it?” Kano smiled again, and gently picked up a small chick who was peeping with distress, and began patting it. “Where do you come from? I feel like you aren’t from Runeterra…”

“Japan, Tokyo exactly.” Akechi answered. 

“Yes, that place is completely unfamiliar to me.”

“... Damn.” Akechi crossed his arms as Kano set the chick down in the pen where it hopped off cheerfully. “I was traveling in the Metaverse when I ended up in Jhin’s world. Do you know a way to go back?”

“If anyone would know of it, Jhin would,” Kano answered. “I’m still impressed you managed to sneak in here without him noticing…”

“It’s usually like that, with this,” Akechi gestured to the MetaNav. “I didn’t expect him to have a Palace this strange, however. I guess the best course of action would be for me to leave and ask Jhin in the real world, correct?”

Kano nodded. “I don’t have the slightest idea how you would leave, as I cannot. But perhaps your ‘app’ can help you.” His voice seemed bitter, as if he was jealous of Akechi's mysterious ability.

“Could I ask you one last question, before I go?” Akechi asked, and Kano nodded. “You said Jhin took you into the Ink. Why did he do that?”

Even before Kano answered, Akechi knew that he had asked a dangerous question. Kano’s smile turned to a frown as he spoke, “Jhin killed me. The ‘Ink’ is merely an amalgamation of every forsaken soul he had taken ruthlessly with his ‘performances’ which is what he calls his murders. Before he had a change of heart, the Ink was merely a mindless entity of suffering and a thousand souls, all crying for a means of escape from the hell he had subjected us to.”

Akechi was shocked, but Kano continued, “The Ink continued to bloom, and created this void of a space we currently reside in. It was more of a prison, a timeless and inescapable space where Jhin continued to put his victims into, alive and dead. After the change, Jhin created a more stable land, trying to atone for his crimes. The amalgamation of souls slowly began to split, with people regaining their individuality and now living in this inky landscape in a sick mimicry of an afterlife.” Kano sighed, and tried to smile again with difficulty. “But, I prefer this much more. He’s helped us, in a way, to find absolution. He can never truly release us, but tried to make up for it.”

“I… I think I get it now,” Akechi nodded. “Somehow, the idea that Jhin was a murderer does not surprise me. He did seem hesitant to tell me what he did, after all.” He offered a small chuckle, and was relieved Kano shared it. “Thank you. I’ll be taking my leave, now.”

Before he could activate his MetaNav, Akechi noticed a pecking at his shoe. One of the chickens was trying to get his attention, and he smiled. Akechi bent down and gently patted the bird before nodding towards Kano, who returned the gesture. “Farewell.”

“Goodbye, Goro Akechi. For your sake, I do hope we never meet again, lest something terrible happens…” Kano gave Akechi a bow, and Akechi clicked on the MetaNav and felt the all-too-familiar sensation of leaving the Metaverse.

He blinked, and he was back in the shack. No signs of ink or blood or any stains, and Akechi was sitting on the mattress, phone in hand. Before he could fully sort out the confused mess of information he had just gained, he saw Jhin squatting at the end of the mattress, staring directly at him.

“So… have fun in there?” Jhin asked. Akechi couldn’t read his expression, nor tone of voice. He didn’t answer, and merely stared at the masked man, who he had just found out was a serial killer, and a brutal one at that…  _ shit. _

“Let me ask again… what were you doing in my Ink dimension, and how did you get in there?” Jhin asked, pulling out a gun, an ornately decorated device that was more than capable of blowing his brains out. 

Akechi gulped. He was quite in a pickle now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jhin: He turned himself into a pickle, Akechi. It was the funniest shit I've ever seen.  
> Goro: Shut up, you.
> 
> Pseudo cliff hanger because the next chapter will focus on someone and something else... Heh.


	3. Meanwhile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, in a different universe... An artist with a lot on his mind visits a cafe.
> 
> Ha ha! More characters... This chapter is a bit short so I'm posting the next one with it as well.

Another rainy day. Bad weather seemed to follow wherever Yusuke Kitagawa went. He gripped his umbrella tightly as he walked, on his way to the familiar coffee shop tucked in an alleyway in Yongen-Jaya. It was on days like these he lacked inspiration, and needed a nice cup of coffee from Cafe LeBlanc to clear his head of troublesome thoughts and worries.

“Ah, Yusuke. Glad to see you,” Sojiro granted him the usual smile. “How has the painting been going?”

“It’s been difficult, but I’ll manage.” Yusuke sat at the bar and glanced around the room. “How has Futaba been?”

As Sojiro prepared Yusuke the usual cup of coffee, he said “Well, school has certainly been a challenge, but you know Futaba. She’s determined to make it through. She’s been studying at home very diligently and from what she tells me, she manages well during classes.” He gently set a cup of freshly brewed coffee in front of Yusuke. 

“Thank you.” Yusuke let the aroma of coffee ease his mind before taking a cautious sip of the bitter, but pleasant flavor.

“Anything in particular on your mind?” Sojiro asked.

Yusuke took another careful sip of his drink before answering, “It’s odd actually… I’ve been having strange dreams these past few weeks, but I can’t remember when I wake up from them. The confusing mess of it all has been weighing heavily on my mind, and it’s been impacting my concentration throughout the day. It makes it very difficult to continue with my work… and it’s been overdue for my self-imposed deadline.” He sighed deeply and stared into the ripples in his coffee cup. “It gives me a strange feeling, as if something terrible was to occur soon. It was the same kind of feeling I would get back when… well, back when I was with the Phantom Thieves.”

Sojiro seemed to perk up slightly at the mention of that name. “Well, it surely has been a while, hasn’t it? Every now and then Futaba talks about how much she misses hanging out with all you guys, but with everyone moving on their own ways…” he trailed off before continuing, “You’re still in contact with everyone, right?”

Yusuke nodded. “Yes, but. I don’t want to bother anyone with my feelings of dread. For all I know, it’s simply just me missing the times I’ve shared with all of my friends. I truly felt like I belonged for once, and when Akira moved back to his hometown, and everyone else was going away, I can’t help but feel left behind, on my own.”

He frowned. “It’s not like I’m alone here, though. Futaba is still here, and Makoto and Haru haven’t moved that far away… It’s just different, I suppose.”

“I get it. Life sometimes throws obstacles in your path, and you just have to deal with the changes.” Sojiro smiled sympathetically. “But change can be good.”

“Yes. I need to tell myself that.” Yusuke finished his coffee and started to get up. “Thank you for the coffee, as always. Your words have helped lighten the burden in my heart.”

Sojiro nodded. “Good to hear. I’ll tell Futaba that you stopped by.”

As Yusuke left LeBlanc, he felt relief that he could think a bit more clearly. It surely didn’t explain some of the strange sights he recalled from his dreams, but he figured they were simply born from a desire to seek the old companionship he had with his friends… Nothing too serious. He stopped by the art supplies store to buy a few new tubes of paint with his dwindling spending money, which helped to cheer him up. Any purchase that went towards his passion always lightened his mood.

As Yusuke made his way home however, the dark looming thoughts seemed to have returned. It seemed like he couldn’t convince his mind completely. Something about the image of drowning in ink, shiny and sleek like oil and blood, feeling it choke out all the air in his lungs as it flooded inside him… It felt wrong. The dreams would just be dreams if it weren’t for how often they would happen. He had been checking his phone regularly, seeking any form of validation of his strange occurrences. The MetaNav app hadn’t returned, nor had his friends said anything odd. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Nothing… at all.

Yusuke had considered several times to ask his friends in the chat if they had experienced any kind of odd dream, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He trusted his friends deeply, no? Yet why did he hesitate? ‘Not wanting to bother them with feelings of dread’... was that true or simply an excuse?

As he stood in his usual people watching spot, the dread he felt in the pit of his stomach hadn’t disappeared. Today was just not a good day for this. Giving up, Yusuke returned home. He could engage in people watching some other day. His walk must have been too tiring, and the gut feeling wasn’t going to disappear any time soon. As he turned the key in the lock of his door and entered, Yusuke immediately knew something wasn’t right. 

The normally barren walls of his room were stained with streaks of black and red, reeking of the same strange but enrapturing pull of Mementos. They were dripping viscous liquid into the room and onto the floor, coating the edges of his brand new canvases. Yusuke darted forward, reaching to save his poor canvases from being ruined when he saw an arm reach from the dark void of the ink on his wall.

He yelled in surprise as the arm was joined by another, and the pair reached forward, lunging towards him… and before they could grab him, Yusuke swung his canvases at the hands, forcing them to recoil and disappear back into the ink. Shock and fear was flooding into his mind, and the sudden rush of adrenaline was causing his heart to beat impossibly fast...

And then, Yusuke fainted.


	4. The Ink Thickens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yusuke meets up with an old... 'friend', and discuss some stranger matters. Then, plotting happens, where Yusuke finally pursues the possible source of his foreboding dreams.

When Yusuke came to, the walls were clean and white again. He sat up, rubbing his head. “Ughh…” he mumbled to himself. What in the world was that? “Some hallucination, a plague of the mind…” 

“Ow! That hurts.” 

Yusuke jolted at the voice and turned to see an all too familiar face. It was… Akechi? What was he doing here? How did he get here? Wasn’t he…? 

He blinked and glanced at the mysterious, tall man wearing a mask who was holding what looked like gauze and wrapping it around Akechi’s wrists. “Sorry, I don’t usually administer first aid.”

“Akechi-kun!” Yusuke almost shouted again, standing up and walking towards the two. “What… how…?”

“Ah, Kitagawa-kun… I would have mentioned beforehand I was dropping in, but I didn’t know I was going to end up here.” He turned to glare at the masked man, who scratched at his neck sheepishly. “I thought you were better at that ‘ink travel’ of yours…”

“Well, I told you it was unreliable, but we are here, aren’t we?” the masked man shrugged as he finished wrapping Akechi’s injuries. His hands and arms… oh. Yusuke got a bout of dejavu as he realised what they looked like.

“Were you the one reaching through my wall in the ink?” Yusuke asked, realising he was still holding his canvases. Being hit with the solid wooden frames would definitely do some damage, and he felt a bit apologetic as Akechi nodded.

“Sorry, I… I was a bit taken aback when two arms were reaching out of my wall.”

“Understandable. Again, sorry I didn’t tell you in advance… Jhin here was meant to take me to _my_ apartment.” The masked man named Jhin looked away, seemingly quite embarrassed.

“Akechi-kun… You must explain to me what is happening.” Perhaps he could also hold some answers with the odd dreams Yusuke had been experiencing. Maybe… this was the opportunity he had been waiting for, and it dropped in front of him (quite literally) from out of nowhere.

Akechi nodded. “Yes, I shall. I’m sure you would be awfully confused with what is going on after all… Well, let’s start from the beginning…”

* * *

“...and he set down the gun, laughing at how terrified I looked,” Akechi sighed, and glared at Jhin who was chuckling. “Thinking that’s still funny, huh?”

“Your expression… it was priceless!” Jhin snickered. “But I am genuinely curious how you ended up there.” His eyes had a curious glint in them.

“I honestly don’t know. I didn’t expect there to be a different dimension at the shack, I was just trying to figure out where you went,” Akechi answered, giving Jhin a puzzled look. “Perhaps there could be more to this than at first glance…”

Jhin shrugged and stood up from the chair and stretched out his arms. “Ah… I’m ready to go to the bathroom. Pardon me.” He went over to the apartment door and was about to step outside when Akechi called to him.

“Uh, there’s a bathroom here! Kitagawa-san, Jhin can use it, right?”

“Yes, of course. Help yourself.”

“...Bathroom. Oh right.” Jhin closed the door and looked around sheepishly. “The bathrooms back home were always outside. I suppose your civilization has figured plumbing out? I forget sometimes.”

Akechi stood up and led Jhin to the bathroom, and once the door was closed Akechi returned to the table and sat down next to Yusuke, who turned to look at him curiously. In a hushed tone, he asked, “You didn’t mention how you survived Maruki’s Palace.”

“Well, Jhin doesn’t necessarily need to know all the details. But, I can say certainly that I’m lucky to have survived ‘death in Metaverse’ twice now. How it tossed me to Jhin’s dimension, I don’t have answers.”

There was a brief silence, only interrupted by the distant sound of splashing water. Akechi’s expression turned to a more serious one. “Kitagawa-san… I don’t necessarily trust Jhin.”

Yusuke blinked. “Of course, just because a stranger offers you assistance doesn’t mean you owe them trust.”

“Well, It’s not just that. The ‘Ink dimension’ I ended up in? It’s his Palace. Jhin is a retired serial killer who has trapped the countless souls he’s slaughtered in his Palace.” Akechi spoke, his expression slowly twisting more to disgust. “He however, hasn’t been brought to justice. Isn’t that odd to you?”

“Well, I do know someone who has killed several people and hasn’t faced justice either, and I’m talking to him right now,” Yusuke said bluntly, and Akechi looked displeased. “I’m correct, am I not?”

“I mean… yes. I suppose so. But I also sense something much more sinister with him. Have you experienced anything… odd lately? Anything perhaps in relation to Ink… black and red skies, anything out of the ordinary?”

When Akechi asked his question, Yusuke’s thoughts went back to those odd recurring dreams. “I have been having dreams lately, mostly of me drowning in ink. Do… do you think Jhin has something to do with it?”

“Call it a detective’s intuition, but I think Jhin’s intentions aren’t the most pure. What if those dreams were warning you of him? What if he’s going to do something sinister in our world? We can’t trust him.” 

“Well then, what do you propose we do about it?”

Akechi was going to answer but then he heard a yell and a clattering noise from the bathroom. Moments later, Jhin emerged, looking a bit disturbed. 

“The small lever startled me, I’m sorry,” he said, his hands dripping wet.

“You mean the lever to flush the toilet? Yes, it is a bit loud,” Yusuke answered, staring at him suspiciously. “Your hands-”

“I washed them in the taller basin and didn’t dry them before leaving that cursed tornado bowl.” Jhin took his spot on the chair next to Akechi. “Thank you for letting me use your bathroom.”

“Of course.”

“Well, thank you for bringing me back to my world, Jhin,” Akechi nodded. “What will you do next?”

Jhin glanced around Yusuke’s living room, and thought for a moment. “I don't really have any responsibilities to take me back home, so I was thinking of exploring this place for a bit. Japan, you said? It seems like quite an interesting place.”

Akechi nodded. “Of course. Do you wish for me to accompany you in your excursion?”

With a fairly confident shake of his head, Jhin replied, “No, I think I can handle it from here. If not, I’ll… figure something out. I’m very good at adapting to new strange worlds, so this should be a breeze.” He stood up and waved his goodbye to Akechi and Yusuke, who followed him to the door. “Nice to meet you two. Perhaps our paths will cross again. Farewell.”

“Good bye!” Akechi smiled, and when the door closed his smile vanished. “As I feared. He’s going to stay here… I had an idea, and it involved me going into his Palace to discover more about him. Unlike the previous Palaces I’ve explored, it seems to have a strange structure. Nothing I saw really resembled the real world except one small part, which alludes to an extreme amount of distortion.”

“Do you want me to help you?” Yusuke offered, and Akechi hesitated before answering.

“I mean… I suppose. It would not hurt to have some backup against such a mysterious enemy. I do not wish to tell the others about this however… not everyone is so ready to trust me on these sorts of matters.”

“For good reason, I think. But you have no reason to harm me now.” Yusuke looked down and closed his eyes, deep in thought. It was a lot to handle. Akechi being alive, a mysterious stranger that could be a threat, possibly on a similar level to Maruki according to the information Akechi had shared with him. “Yet, how do we access his Palace? You said his shack was the location, we can’t go back there, yes?”

Akechi smiled. “Well, you see… there is something I didn’t mention. After Jhin discovered me coming out of his Palace, we didn’t come here right away. There was a short time we went on a short errand, and he took a nap. I went out for a walk, and tried a few more combinations in the app, and strangely enough…” he pulled out his phone, and showed him the MetaNav as Yusuke’s eyes widened. “His Palace is so massive, that the location truly does not matter, as long as we are physically close to him. The location is _anywhere near Jhin._ Him staying in Tokyo is actually helpful to us in this case.

Yusuke pulled out his phone, and to his surprise he saw the all to familiar app icon of the MetaNav… “It’s returned.” His eyes glanced up at Akechi, who was looking at him intently, waiting for an answer.

“All right. Take me to his Palace, he shouldn’t have gone too far.” Yusuke sighed, and Akechi nodded.

“Jhin, Tokyo, Ink.” Akechi spoke confidently, and soon enough, Yusuke felt the familiar creeping sensation as the MetaNav took them to their desired destination.

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter is a bit slow, but they all are. More interesting stuff to come...


End file.
